Sanitary napkins and related disposable absorbent articles which provide for the collection of menses and other bodily discharges are well known in the art. It has long been an object of sanitary napkins to readily intercept menses upon discharge from the wearer. Such sanitary napkins have long had a means, typically pressure sensitive adhesive, for affixing the sanitary napkin to the undergarment of the wearer and maintaining the sanitary napkin in the proper position to intercept the discharged menses.
However, the undergarment may not, in fact, move in concert with the body of the wearer. Specifically, the crotch of the undergarment of the wearer may not remain in constant registration with and position relative to the vaginal opening. Also, as the wearer spreads her legs, walks, sits, etc., the sanitary napkin may not flex and twist with the undergarment--stressing the means for affixing the sanitary napkin to the undergarment of the wearer. In fact, the pressure sensitive adhesive may become detached from the undergarment, further allowing the sanitary napkin to shift from the desired position and registration.
Several attempts in the art have been made to provide a sanitary napkin which may be attached to the undergarment of the wearer and also maintain the constant position with respect to the body of the wearer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,425,130 issued Jan. 10, 1984 to DesMarais discloses a sanitary napkin having decoupled components joined at the transverse edges.
Other attempts have been made in the art to provide a sanitary napkin which maintains contact of the topsheet with the body of the wearer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,804,380, issued Feb. 14, 1989 to Lassen et al. discloses a three dimensionally shaped sanitary protecting device which claims to readily fit and align itself with the wearer's anatomy. However, this teaching does not allow for the aforementioned independence of movement between the body of the wearer and the undergarment of the wearer.
Other attempts in the prior art to provide improved body contact are illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 2,747,575 issued May 29, 1956 to Mercer. This patent discloses a catamenial bandage having a longitudinal hump which bulges towards and may contact the body of the wearer. However, this teaching suffers from the drawback that the bandage requires transverse compressive forces to cause the topsheet to bulge towards the labia and no means for controlling the type or degree of bulging is provided.
None of the sanitary napkins according to the prior art provide separation and independent movement of the topsheet and backsheet and a means for controlling such separation and independent movement. Also the sanitary napkins of the prior art do not provide a means for maintaining labia contact without transversely compressive forces being applied to the sanitary napkin.
It is an object of this invention to provide a sanitary napkin which more readily intercepts menses as it is discharged. Also, it is an object of this invention to provide a sanitary napkin which maintains better contact with the wearer throughout the range of normal movements encountered while the sanitary napkin is worn. Finally, it is an object of this invention to provide sanitary napkin which provides controlled and independent movement of the components relative to both the undergarment of the wearer and to the vaginal opening of the wearer.